Tesla officially rolls out fully driverless Robotaxi service across Austin, Texas, with the firm confirming via X that the unmanned ride-hailing service has run within designated geo-fenced areas starting at 10 a.m. local time, marking a crucial milestone for Tesla’s commercial autonomous driving layout.

The EV maker kicked off Robotaxi trial operations in Austin nearly one year ago, yet long waiting times over 30 minutes troubled most passengers due to technical and regulatory constraints. Currently Tesla deploys around 50 driverless vehicles locally, far fewer than Waymo’s over 250 operational cars in the same metropolitan zone.

Under Elon Musk’s corporate strategy, Tesla is shifting core focus from pure vehicle manufacturing to artificial intelligence and humanoid robots, and driverless Robotaxi has become a pivotal growth pillar supported by its core FSD full self-driving software. After Austin’s full launch, Tesla plans to expand the same service to Dallas and Houston in Texas sequentially. Musk previously predicted wide-scale nationwide rollout across the US in late 2026 after successful trials in Texas.

Competition in autonomous ride-hailing keeps intensifying. Benefiting from earlier commercialization, Waymo holds a larger fleet scale in Austin, while Tesla speeds up catch-up with iterative FSD upgrades and low-cost mass production advantages. The complete removal of on-board safety drivers in Austin enables Tesla to accumulate massive real-world road data for further global Robotaxi expansion.